The primary goal of this site is to provide mature, meaningful discussion about the Vancouver Canucks. However, we all need a break some time so this forum is basically for anything off-topic, off the wall, or to just get something off your chest! This forum is named after poster Creeper, who passed away in July of 2011 and was a long time member of the Canucks message board community.

Oddly while watching the results on the tube (CTV and Global), commentators could not find an answer as to why.

It is very simple. Just over a week ago voters began to connect the dots on the populist campaign promises the NDP and Mr. Dix were making and realized things didn't add up. There were several spending increases promised, but all new growth opportunities were either to be cancelled or studied to death.

The key moment was when Mr. Dix went from pragmatic (we'll wait until an application is made and an environmental review is done) to populist (we don't want this project) on the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion proposal. At that point people realized he was the same old NDP as Dave Barratt, Mike Harcourt and Glen Clarke.

From that moment, the Liberals began making large gains in the polls and the NDP was forced to change their message, another flip flop, that further eroded voter confidence in Mr. Dix.

The editorial in this mornings province nailed it.

Where Dix repeatedly refused to give clear answers to basic questions, Clark was direct. Where she acknowledged past mistakes of her party, in Dix’s world, the NDP is without flaws. Where Clark was warm and engaging, Dix was jumpy, combative and condescending.

Now Christy needs to cozy up to Harper (she's of fed Lib wing of the BCLib party) and get things rolling again with land claim settlements so the the resource sector of BC can keep driving the economy.

Kiss and make up with Allison and get the pipelines flowing. That will further pressure the dead duck down south to quit waffling on Keystone. Canadian resources with export gateways south and east. The pipelines are the equivalent for Canadian growth that the rail roads were a hundred years ago.

Yeah, they fought for that here in BC while I was still working in Alberta, the government legislated them back to work as an essential service but also legislated it so that BCAS is not an emergency service and therefore does not fall under the emergency services guidelines.

In some ways I can't blame them. As important a service as ambulance and paramedics are, even I can't justify the expenditure of over $1 million every year in tax payers money to operate a station that was staffed full time in a town where they would do less than 50 calls per year. That's just a foolish way to spend money when you think of the number of tiny towns in BC that generate that call volume.

It's a catch-22 really. Because it is a provincial service and 100% government funded everyone is entitled to it.

Unfortunately for BCAS they are running into major staffing problems. They've had them for years but have been able to keep the boat more or less afloat, but now they can't recruit new paramedics. Go figure. But it probably will mean dumping a pile of money into the system or rethinking it completely.....which might not be a bad idea.

I'm in it for another 15 months, then hopefully it's back to school for 2 years for a medical imaging (x-ray tech). Enough of this carrying a pager bullshit, getting, spit on, puked on, swung at, and bled on, on for a shit wage.

Topper wrote:Oddly while watching the results on the tube (CTV and Global), commentators could not find an answer as to why.

It is very simple. Just over a week ago voters began to connect the dotson the populist campaign promises the NDP and Mr. Dix were making and realized things didn't add up. There were several spending increases promised, but all new growth opportunities were either to be cancelled or studied to death.

That was the key I think. When I first saw that Liberal campaign add where Christy was talking about "big government", "borrowing", and "debt for our children", all I could do was hope that anyone who was waffling between Liberal and NDP would sit down and actually think about it. Looks like they did.

There were several people I spoke to up here who were championing the NDP cause because they didn't trust the Liberals after the "whole HST fiasco". They were all concerned about the environment and the pipelines and the LNG projects, not to mention the potential of a refinery halfway between Terrace and Kitimat. They didn't want to even listen to anything the Liberals might have to say.....that is until I asked them what they thought about the prospect of the housing market taking a nose dive here and the equity they've gained in their homes over the last 2-3 years suddenly meaning jack shit. Funny how people suddenly pay attention when you bring it back home financially. Once you get them there, then they will listen to some rationale thoughts about where the money is going to come from to pay for all the promised spending Dix and his NDP crew were making. Suddenly they actually seemed to hear what Dix was saying about how the NDP would spend money "responsibly".

ukcanuck wrote:Common sense ?? From a guy working in health care... I hope they cut your job first

ukcanuck wrote:

rats19 wrote:we usually dont.....

We usually don't ??

Since you clearly are in full support of the NDP, can you tell me how their system of borrowing in perpetuity and running up a massive debt, spending without recourse, and driving away money making industry and future investors, is a good way to run the province.

As for cutting my job. Maybe you should look into the way that paramedics are paid in BC and compare that to the way they are paid in the neighboring conservative province of Alberta. Then tell me I don't get it.

By the way, do you even live in Canada right now?

How do you miss the point that yours is a public sector job, Simply put the liberals are philosophically dedicated to controlling or eliminating as many of your kinds of jobs as possible. Less taxes means less services in other words less public servants of every kind less teachers, less nurses ( your wife you stunted idiot) less support staff etc etc etc.

Now I'm not saying the NDP are the province's saviours but holy shit Meds, a smart man knows what side of the bread is buttered and for you it ain't right wing economics .(shakes head in amazement)

ukcanuck wrote:Now I'm not saying the NDP are the province's saviours but holy shit Meds, a smart man knows what side of the bread is buttered and for you it ain't right wing economics .(shakes head in amazement)

LOL at the socialist belief that services need to be provided by the government.

When Gordon Campbell contracted many of the ancillary services in health care (cooking and cleaning), cooks wages went from a union rate of $20+ and hour to an industry standard of a bit over $10 an hour and saved tax payers a fortune.

UK, you have also highlighted the socialist conundrum that taxing government employees is never enough to pay their wages unless you have a 100% tax rate and a totalitarian state.

People for get that government wages are paid with tax payers money and governments owe taxpayers the best bang for their buck. It is no different than companies being answerable to their shareholders.

Further on the NDP loss and the Kinder Morgan moment for Mr. Dix. This was the first waffle that Dix made and he instantly walked onto the film set and became the poster boy for all the Liberal 90's economic chaos ads. This wasn't a forged document from a dozen years ago, this was Dix leadership in action.

Prior to that, Dix had gotten by with vague spending promises and flippant "we'll need to study that" replies to questions about things we believed he, as had previous NDP leaders, would be against.

Since you clearly are in full support of the NDP, can you tell me how their system of borrowing in perpetuity and running up a massive debt, spending without recourse, and driving away money making industry and future investors, is a good way to run the province.

As for cutting my job. Maybe you should look into the way that paramedics are paid in BC and compare that to the way they are paid in the neighboring conservative province of Alberta. Then tell me I don't get it.

By the way, do you even live in Canada right now?

How do you miss the point that yours is a public sector job, Simply put the liberals are philosophically dedicated to controlling or eliminating as many of your kinds of jobs as possible. Less taxes means less services in other words less public servants of every kind less teachers, less nurses ( your wife you stunted idiot) less support staff etc etc etc.

Now I'm not saying the NDP are the province's saviours but holy shit Meds, a smart man knows what side of the bread is buttered and for you it ain't right wing economics .(shakes head in amazement)

Well, seeing as I both my wife and I could move outside of BC and get jobs in the provinces east of us, then that is always an option. Considering the demand for RN's all over the world, we have looked into going to places like Australia and Hawaii on contracts of up to 2 years.

The person you are calling a "stunted idiot" is all too aware of the way the Liberal RW politicians do business.....what you aren't getting is that I am OK with actually having to find a different job if I have to. I'm not afraid to actually have to earn my money the old fashioned way. I can get a job as a paramedic on one of the LNG sites, or on the refinery construction project, or at a pipeline site. It might not be my first choice to be doing some of that as it's bloody boring, but it pays a HELLUVALOT better than any wage I may have received with the NDP in power.

So you think I'm a stunted idiot, and I think you are a lazy douchebag who sits around with his hand out asking the government to butter his bread. You sound like every single one of the NDP/socialist supporting individuals I know who want their cake baked for them, served on fine china, and spoon fed to them by a supermodel who promises a happy ending if you don't get any crumbs on your shirt.

ukcanuck wrote:Now I'm not saying the NDP are the province's saviours but holy shit Meds, a smart man knows what side of the bread is buttered and for you it ain't right wing economics .(shakes head in amazement)

LOL at the socialist belief that services need to be provided by the government.

When Gordon Campbell contracted many of the ancillary services in health care (cooking and cleaning), cooks wages went from a union rate of $20+ and hour to an industry standard of a bit over $10 an hour and saved tax payers a fortune.

UK, you have also highlighted the socialist conundrum that taxing government employees is never enough to pay their wages unless you have a 100% tax rate and a totalitarian state.

People for get that government wages are paid with tax payers money and governments owe taxpayers the best bang for their buck. It is no different than companies being answerable to their shareholders.

Further on the NDP loss and the Kinder Morgan moment for Mr. Dix. This was the first waffle that Dix made and he instantly walked onto the film set and became the poster boy for all the Liberal 90's economic chaos ads. This wasn't a forged document from a dozen years ago, this was Dix leadership in action.

Prior to that, Dix had gotten by with vague spending promises and flippant "we'll need to study that" replies to questions about things we believed he, as had previous NDP leaders, would be against.

Topper how does taking a whole section of people making a living wage which enables them to buy homes and pay taxes and contribute to the economy and reducing them to minimum wage workers barely able to pay for rent let alone buy goods and services to keep the economy going a good thing? Oh Im sure thats good for wealthy corporations tax bill but besides that? It seems evident that wherever privitization has been tried it results in low wages and low quality service ... The "You get what you pay for" mantra

The people have spoken yesterday but they were scared and tricked by doomsday warnings that aren't wholly the truth. For example even you cannot deny that all three NDP governments that BC has had coincided with major world wide recessions, provincial governments do not control world resource prices, BC Is a resources based economy its tied to the pacific rim and its long since lost its ability to control its own destiny.

For example:Tumbler ridge in the 90s is widely known to have collapsed directly because if "The lost decade" in Japan. Try as they might the NDP can not be blamed for failing to fix the Japanese economy yet you would be content to let people think that the entire fault for the slim times in mining in the 90s is all the socialists (NDP's) fault.

As for Kinder Morgan, big money for a few, small potatoes for everyone else and huge consequences environmentally ...

ukcanuck wrote:Now I'm not saying the NDP are the province's saviours but holy shit Meds, a smart man knows what side of the bread is buttered and for you it ain't right wing economics .(shakes head in amazement)

LOL at the socialist belief that services need to be provided by the government.

When Gordon Campbell contracted many of the ancillary services in health care (cooking and cleaning), cooks wages went from a union rate of $20+ and hour to an industry standard of a bit over $10 an hour and saved tax payers a fortune.

UK, you have also highlighted the socialist conundrum that taxing government employees is never enough to pay their wages unless you have a 100% tax rate and a totalitarian state.

People for get that government wages are paid with tax payers money and governments owe taxpayers the best bang for their buck. It is no different than companies being answerable to their shareholders.

Further on the NDP loss and the Kinder Morgan moment for Mr. Dix. This was the first waffle that Dix made and he instantly walked onto the film set and became the poster boy for all the Liberal 90's economic chaos ads. This wasn't a forged document from a dozen years ago, this was Dix leadership in action.

Prior to that, Dix had gotten by with vague spending promises and flippant "we'll need to study that" replies to questions about things we believed he, as had previous NDP leaders, would be against.

You sound like a certain gay born again I know that thinks black & white and right & left, good & evil Topper.If you vote right you vote for suppression, corruption and corporate, if you vote left you vote welfare, weakness and economic downfall.

Time we started thinking differently. The system broken. You know we cannot continue on this path of destruction. Do we know what that is yet? No, but people are not coming out to vote because they don't see either way as viable. The lesser of the two evils or the better of the two goods?

Viva la rEvolution!

There is no such thing as climate change...there is no such thing as climate change...there is such thing as climate change...

Arachnid wrote: people are not coming out to vote because they don't see either way as viable.

Their apathy is the problem, not the solution.

Want to make change, get involved in the process. Old hippies too stoned by 8am to get out of their clap board shack in the woods to vote are not part of the solution no matter how many solar panels power their CBC radio.

Arachnid wrote: people are not coming out to vote because they don't see either way as viable.

Their apathy is the problem, not the solution.

Want to make change, get involved in the process. Old hippies too stoned by 8am to get out of their clap board shack in the woods to vote are not part of the solution no matter how many solar panels power their CBC radio.

I can't believe you would bite into the propaganda...it's not solar powered old hippies and apathy that are the problem. It's the system itself.

We need to look at steady state economics, pure right of recall, non-party elections and sustainable practices where all stakeholders benefit (and I know you know that Green and Economics is only a part of Sustainability).

Getting involved is called electoral reform but we know the main parties don't want change.

Republicans, Democrats, Communist, Green they are all corrupt under this system.

Come on man, you are smarter than that.

There is no such thing as climate change...there is no such thing as climate change...there is such thing as climate change...